Raining on our parades
It was foggy this morning! We all slept in and finally got Kona to shore around 10am. I don’t feel too bad, she is getting late night walks so it isn’t a hardship for her. Cory asked me on the way to shore if I was confident in the school start date of 9/7. I thought I was. I had gone and checked that when I planned the summer. School had gotten out late as well, so it all made sense. Right up until then at least. Cory had enough foresight to look at their incoming school emails to see that school actually starts 9/1, a week earlier! Oh crap! Well, there goes out “two weeks of sailing left” down to one! Captain and I are so bummed. I am glad we made the run to Frankfort to enjoy this time however. If we had slowed down and were stuck up in my not so favorite places I wouldn’t have gotten the time here. We will have to make a run home sometime later this week to Door County and back to the safety of our home marina. I’m not going to think about that too much seeing how it is just Sunday.
Since it was foggy and a mood killer, we all decided to talk to the marina here and buy a shower which they gladly took $5 a person for us to do. We told them we would be back later as we weren’t ready yet. We walked to the lighthouse instead enjoying the easy walk (on my knee) and the spooky feeling of sea, land and fog.
We came back to Ciara and had brunch. I had a brie quesadilla since our bagels went bad (bread really doesn’t keep on a boat) and Captain and Cory had leftover vodka chicken. I tried one more access point on our bilge to see if we could see where our water protrusion was to no luck. The only good thing to report there is our bilge is going off every one and a half hours now rather then 2-3 times an hour. We then packed our shower bags as well as our lithium power packs that weren’t getting any solar power and headed to shore. We took turns showering while someone babysat Kona and the power at the pavilion by the shower house while the others showered. Kona got some great Frisbee time in much to the enjoyment of the kids and families nearby. I am so lucky that when she has Frisbee, she completely ignores the world and I don’t have to worry about her off leash. I just get to hear passing comments like “That is a really good dog” and “Look at that dog catch those frisbees!”
After we showered, we decided we would take an adventure on our scooters/skateboard. We said goodbye to Kona and loaded the dinghy full and headed to shore. It was nice and cool with the 99% humidity in the breeze. Captain’s beard beaded up with moisture. The roads were very well maintained and we only had to walk one really steep hill. Captain and I came here last year but we got here late and the lighthouse was closed for the day. We enjoyed the little beach at the time. We have sailed past this lighthouse every year and were excited to be able to take a tour this time. The tour was nice and the view from the top was amazing. The lighthouse focused a lot on the rescues efforts made from this station over the years. We learned about the wreck of the J.H. Hartzell which ran aground near Frankfort in 1880. They used a cannon with a line attached from shore to get a line to the ship and then use it to pull a life saving boat to and from the ship in the heavy seas. It was neat.
Just as we left the lighthouse tower, I saw dark clouds and just as we walked outside it started to rain. Not too bad, mostly a good sprinkle. We were worried about our scooters and decided to not wait it out and just get going home. As soon as we got going the heavens opened up and we got drenched while we made our way back the six miles we had come. I had to go slow as my glasses sure don’t have windshield wipers on them and it was coming down hard. Cory and Captain were waiting for me at the top of a hill thinking I wiped out. Nope, just going slow. Cory took a fall coming down as it was slippery, but he was ok. By the time we got back to Frankfort the skies were clearing and we were starting to dry off. Thankfully, back at Ciara, we found it hardly rained at the boat and that we didn’t have a lot of water inside as we had left all the hatches and windows opened. Phew.
Captain had got us invited to showing of a film by a local sailor we have met online over the years. Cory wanted to pass on it so after we made a quick dinner of ramen Captain and I headed over to the sister town on Bestie Lake, Elberta. Turns out the film was 40 years old and it was a showing by Jed and the other filmmakers who made it. We were going to watch it from the film. Back when they had to use a scale model of the ship and put it in three-foot waves and film it in slow motion. The documentary was of the J.H. Hartzell! The same wreck we just had learned about earlier in the day. It was fascinating and neat to see a sold-out house in the historical sociality building.
We headed back to Ciara shortly after 9pm and grabbed Cory and Kona for a night walk. We got oversized ice cream on our way. The endless lights of the fisherman were gone tonight, perhaps because it is Sunday and they all have work tomorrow (or their clients; as most of these are probably charters). It seems like the day just got away from us. I remember this being a thing here in Frankfort. We will get up later and later, and then stay up later. A way to manage the heat and enjoy the cooler times of the evenings. Still lots to explore and relax for a few more days here.
